Good teachers often “take the pulse” of their classrooms by checking how attentive their students are, or by asking students to raise their hands. While this is quick, easy, and cheap, it only works for certain kinds of information. In particular, while seated in a typical classroom configuration, it is hard to indicate a spatial position in a projected image verbally, or with a quick gesture.
In a similar way, students have very few means in ordinary classrooms to gauge their understanding relative to their fellow students. In particular, students may have infrequent opportunities to see how they answered a question relative to their fellow students.
Existing technology-based classroom assessment systems are based upon simple stimulus and response types. Typically, responses are either multiple choice or numeric. Moreover, existing systems show summary data in a form different from that which the student generated the response. For instance, student multiple choices appear on their screen as separate radio buttons, but appear on the summary display in a histogram. An example of such systems is Classtalk, a product that utilizes Hewlett Packard calculators. There are also many systems to allow people in a room to vote, and have poll results instantly tabulated. Finally, there are classroom groupware systems in which students can collaboratively add ideas to a database, or control parts of a simulation; these systems are not quick and easy to use in the course of ordinary classroom activities, but for the most part, demand major changes in the teaching approach.
Educational stakeholders increasingly demand accountability for use of technology in classrooms. Moreover, ample research shows that teachers teach better and students learn better when there is rapid feedback about the students' current state of comprehension or understanding. There is thus a need for a system that provides a quick, easy, meaningful way for teachers to “take the pulse of their students” and for students to see how their current understanding relates to their peer's understanding.
Additionally, psychologists and learning scientists have documented that one of the most powerful positive learning behaviors is self-explanation. Self-explanation is a learner's deliberate attempt to explain a complex concept in a step-by-step fashion, using sound reasons for each step. Not all students, however, are naturally good at self-explanation. Indeed many students need a teacher's support in facilitating, supporting, and critiquing their attempts at self-explanation. Further, not all students are motivated to self-explain. They need some intervention that makes them accountable for their effort. Finally, from a teachers' point of view, it is overly time-consuming to give every student's individual explanation personal attention.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and system for assessing a student's understanding of a process that may unfold, e.g., over time and space, thereby encouraging a learner to explain a complex concept in a step-by-step fashion.